Tips for Writing Résumés

The purpose of a résumé is to spark enough interest that the reader offers you an interview. A résumé is not your entire life history nor is it an application form.

There is no one correct way to write a résumé. There is, however, information that should be included, and there are ways to format your résumé to make it easier to read.

A good résumé requires your personal attention. There is no fill-in-the-blanks résumé format that will effectively communicate your special skills, interests, and experiences to an employer; because each person is different, each résumé must be unique.

Three types of résumés are standard: chronological, functional, and skills. All three are described in detail, with numerous examples, in publications available in the Career Services Office.

Many employers receive hundreds of résumés a week. Most will decide in 10-30 seconds whether to spend more time reading a given résumé. It is, therefore, essential that your résumé be brief and easy to skim. It should be formatted so the most important information jumps off the page at the reader. A person applying for an entry-level position seldom needs more than one page, but it is important that the résumé not look crowded. If you go to a second page, be sure that you have not included any details that are inappropriate or irrelevant.

Contact Information
Begin the résumé with your name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail address. Do not put "Résumé" at the top. Your name should stand out from the information.

Objective
An Objective rarely adds much to your résumé and should only be included when it provides substantive information or is required. When included, it should not be general and vague. (“A challenging position that will use my talents, education, and abilities” tells the reader nothing that helps him/her decide whether s/he has a position for you.) “A permanent position as...” or “A summer job as a...” is usually sufficient. If you are genuinely interested in several different possibilities, have a separate résumé for each.

Education
For most college students, education is a more important hiring consideration than experience. If that is true in your case, then your educational information should come next. If, however, you have a great deal of relevant experience, the information about the experience should probably come before the education section.

Once you are in college, high school information is irrelevant, unless you did something really outstanding such as receiving a National Merit Scholarship or you are a first-semester college student.

Give the degree(s) pursued and/or earned, major, your expected graduation date, and the name and location of all colleges you have attended, starting with the most recent and working back (reverse chronological order).

You will often read that you should include your grade point average (GPA) only if it is 3.0 or above. If your GPA in your major is higher than your cumulative GPA, you might list both. Also, keep in mind that not every hiring organization is looking for people at the top of their class. Do indicate that the GPA at Tech is figured on a 4.0 scale (i.e. “2.8/4.0”).

Honors can be listed in this section of your résumé if they relate to your education, or they can be listed in a separate section.

Experience
Employers are more interested in what you have done than in where you have done it. Emphasize the “what” by giving your job title first, perhaps followed by the dates in parentheses. On the next line, name the employer, the city, and the state. Do not give the mailing address, phone number, or the name of your supervisor. Employment experiences should typically be listed with the most recent first.

List what you did, beginning each item with an action verb. Use the present tense when you describe the duties of your current job and past tense for jobs you no longer hold or activities of your current position that have already been completed.

Activities, Memberships, Interests, Additional Information
Employers disagree about whether they want to see this information. If it does not crowd your page, or require a separate page, the information can help. For example, memberships in professional organizations indicate interest in and commitment to your profession. Employers frequently look for leadership, so include groups in which you have held an office. If an interviewer shares an interest you have named, that helps break the ice at the beginning of your interview. Since most technical employers seek computer expertise, you should consider including a section naming the computer hardware and software you have used In addition, you can use a skills section to point out language proficiencies and skills you have gained from coursework such as technical writing.

References
Listing references on a résumé is usually unnecessary. When you write your résumé, however, you should get permission from at least three people to use them as references. Once the résumé is in final form, it's a good idea to give a copy to each reference. Be sure to have a list of their names, titles, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses to give to an employer who requests that information.

Do not say “References available upon request” on your résumé. That is assumed and adds nothing substantive.

Additional Tips
Do not include personal information such as height, weight, marital status, parental status, gender, or health, and do not attach a photograph.

Use lists, rather than full paragraphs, to make your résumé easy to skim.

Put the most important information first. Do not use too many, if any, bold letters, italics, or all CAPS. You want it to look neat and to focus rather than scatter the reader's attention.

Have several people read your résumé, not only to critique the content, but also to proofread. You can be sure that the employer reading your résumé will catch any misspellings, typos, or grammatical errors. It is dangerous to rely on a spell checker; your typo may be an actual word.

Finally, your résumé must be visually appealing. Use a good grade of paper in the standard 8 ½” x 11” size. White is fine; a subtle tan or gray may stand out in a stack of résumés. Do not use a bright color! Buy extra paper so that your cover letter will match the enclosed résumé. A standard business envelope is perfectly acceptable.

A good copy machine or a computer with a laser printer is fine for producing a résumé.

Summary of Résumé Preparation Hints
• Keep it short and to the point.
• Do not include high school information.
• Use action verbs to describe job duties.
• Do not include references or say "References available upon request."
• Do not include personal information such as height, weight, marital status, sex, or health.
• List information; do not write in sentences or paragraphs.
• Proofread carefully. Errors are fatal!
• Use good grade white, light tan, or gray paper.
• Produce good, clean copies.

Action Verbs

Tips for Writing a Résumé Designed for Electronic Scanning
There is a growing trend among employers to use computer technology to process résumés. Rather than having a person read résumé after résumé, and very likely miss some important information, these employers are using OCR (optical character recognition) to scan résumés into a database.

This technology provides a number of benefits to job applicants. You are likely to receive a faster response, since most scanning technologies generate immediate acknowledgment. The technology enhances your exposure, provided the résumé has been carefully constructed. It also increases the accuracy of access to applicant information for employers.

Database searches may be based on words and phrases such as “digital design” or “test development,” topics such as education or functional experience, or fields such as degree or school.

To produce a résumé that will scan with the greatest accuracy, you should use 11- or 12-point standard fonts, such as Courier, Times New Roman, or Rockwell, on white paper. Keep the text plain and simple, and include all the “buzz words” that are relevant to the job you want. Be as specific as possible.

Another suggestion is to use the space bar rather than tabs.

Enhancements that are likely to scan inaccurately and therefore should not be used include graphics, bold type, underlining, italics, fancy type faces, bullets, tables, or formatting such as columns. Paragraphs scan more accurately than lists.

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